MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has named its Athletes of the Month for January. Three male and three female athletes were nominated, one each from track and field, basketball, and swimming and diving. The recipients of this month’s recognition were sophomore Carolyn Nairn (Lubbock, Texas/ Brownell-Talbot) (right) of swimming and diving and freshman Joe McMahon (Pittsburgh/ Baldwin) (below) of track and field.Nairn and the swimming and diving team had four meets in the month of January. In Allegheny’s second competition of the month, against Division II Clarion, Nairn won the 200-yard freestyle (1:58.01) and took second in the 100-yard backstroke (1:02.29). The following day the Gators were up against Carnegie Mellon, and Nairn picked up a pair of wins, again in the 200-free (1:57.24) as well as in the 200-yard backstroke (2:13.55). In the team’s final meet of the month, against Edinboro, Nairn paired with teammates to win two relays while also winning the 200-yard freestyle for the third straight meet, this time touching the wall in 1:40.76.
McMahon started his Allegheny College track and field career off on the right foot, winning the triple jump in his first two collegiate contests. His best mark came at the NCAC Relays, where his jump of 43’5” helped him to place first as an individual and as a “team”, as he paired with another Gator to travel a combined 84’1.75”. McMahon also placed third as an individual and second as a team in the long jump at the relays. A week earlier, at Baldwin-Wallace, McMahon’s leap of 20’10” was good for second place.